Sekunjalo hosts gathering
THE annual Sekunjalo Gathering held ahead of the State of the Nation Address (Sona), was hosted at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel yesterday.
Sekunjalo chairman Dr Iqbal Survé co-hosted the event with guest of honour Baleka Mbete, the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Guests included diplomats, ambassadors, business leaders, cabinet ministers, senior government officials, civil society organisations and executives of Sekunjalo affiliated companies.
Master of ceremonies Lance Witten welcomed more than 300 dignitaries to the event.
Mbete warned against “believing everything you read in the press, because soon you will begin to believe it even if it is not necessarily the truth”.
Alluding to the fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa was merely seeing out the fifth Parliament, and 2019 being an election year, the address would be paired back to keep costs down. A full “celebratory Sona” would be held in June once the sixth parliament was constituted.
Twenty-five years into democracy, Mbete said it was time for reflection. One of the issues she highlighted was the space issue in Parliament – which was built in the early 1900s. There was not enough space to operate efficiently, she said, and joked that the businesspeople gathered in the room could dig into their pockets to assist where they could with more operational space.
She also touched on the land issue, saying the process would be carried out fairly and legally, and that without land ownership being restored, there could be no restoration of dignity.
Mbete welcomed the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and would support whatever steps needed to be taken to move forward.
Mbete thanked Survé for hosting the event over the years and said she supported his values.
Advocate Dr Wallace Mgoqi, founding chairman of Sekunjalo, told the audience how Sekunjalo had come from humble beginnings when then-president Nelson Mandela had asked individuals and entrepreneurs to establish companies in order to boost black business in South Africa.
Listed 20 years ago, with an ethos of broad-based empowerment, which included women, the company remained true to its core values, with philanthropy playing a large part of their business and profits being invested in charitable causes.
Sekunjalo used the annual gathering to launch its 2019 theme: “Africa. Technology. The Future.” Through this theme, the group would continue to drive investment in technologies to build Africa and take the continent forward.